Can anybody remember Co-operative tokens? These Blantyre token i think date from the 1960s and could be used in any co-op in Blantyre.
However, i’m keen to know more and i’m sure there are many readers out there who knew what these little coloured tokens were for.
I remember my mum’s purse always had normal coins and co checks. The co checks were different colours for different denominations, one penny, one shilling, one pound etc. I think you used cash and Bought
the checks from the co-op on a one for one basis. So if you bought £1 of co checks this guaranteed that you would spend the £1 worth of checks in the co. And whatever you spent buying checks went towards your dividend at the end of the co quarter. You could also go into the co and buy say a pint of milk then pay with a pound note and ask for your change in co checks. Like Betty I still remember our family’s co dividend number.
Hi Paul about the coloured tokens–I remember we used them to buy bread when the bakery van driven by Tam Hislop or Dick Stewart arrived in our street. I can’t be sure but I think it was almost a type of borrowing–perhaps until the end of the week when pay day came along. It used to be people had a special Coop book which was taken to the shop and looking back it was a slow process as each item was written down before the server gave out the “butter, jam etc” I shopped for my mother before school at the coop store on Auchinraith Rd near the Timber Houses. I too would like to know the origin of the “checks” as they were called. I know messages on the Coop Book could be paid later. I still remember my mother’s Coop number.